LOS ANGELES — Lonzo Ball is four games into his NBA career. He has played a grand total of 143 minutes, but has garnered more headlines and more attention than LeBron James, James Harden, Kevin Durant or any other single player in the Association.

In a nutshell, the microscope this kid is under reaches far and wide.

On opening night of the season, Patrick Beverley, a surly point guard previously employed in Houston who now calls the L.A. Clippers locker room home took it upon himself to shut down the young man. Beverley succeeded and afterwards could be heard crowing, “Weaka– mother f—er. Bring him out on the court with me and I will tear his a– up.”

There was no previous feud between the two. No grudge. Just a veteran already sick and tired of the attention a kid with an overbearing and too talkative father had been getting.

The Raptors will get their first look at Ball Friday night at the Staples Center. A handful of players have already shared a court with the NBA’s most hyped player of 2017-18, though, and have some definite opinions.

Delon Wright, a young man who didn’t have these early trials and tribulations to deal with when he entered the league, full expected Ball would get the kind of reception he got from Beverely and expects it will continue.

“I just feel like what his Dad has been saying about him (that he’s better than Steph Curry, etc.), there are guys that feel they may be better than him and they’re not getting the attention or whatever it may be,” Wright said.

“When guys have a big name — I mean, Steph Curry has a big name and guys are going to try and go at him too. That’s the category he is in.”

DeMar DeRozan has a few years on Wright and he doesn’t dispute Ball will continue to be targeted by opponents, but he thinks Ball can use that to his advantage.

“Yeah, I mean you are a week into the season and you got headlines every single night,” DeRozan said.

“Whoever he is playing against, whatever point guard he’s up against are making it a big deal. But that’s something that is a challenge and something that can be beneficial for him in the long run if he accepts that challenge. It’s not a bad thing. If you look at it that way, then that’s on you, but it’s something that if you are a competitor you probably want that.”

The irony is that those that have met and played with Ball, like Wright and DeRozan, have no real issue with Ball the basketball player.

By all early accounts, he is a quiet, team-first player with potentially world-class passing abilities and an awkward-looking (but somewhat effective) shot.

“I like him,” said DeRozan, who played with Ball a few times this summer at the Lakers’ practice facility. “He seems like a great kid. Great passer, great facilitator. I think he’s going to have a great career.”

But LaVar Ball, the father who doesn’t seem to have an off switch as long as a camera is rolling or a microphone is in front of him, is the exact opposite of quiet and team first.

His only team is Team Ball and it consists of himself, Lonzo and Lonzo’s two younger brothers LaMelo and LiAngelo. And the word quiet isn’t in his vocabulary.

DeRozan refuses to judge the elder Ball.

“He was probably doing that when (Lonzo) was playing hop-scotch in elementary school,” DeRozan said after practice on Thursday. “He was probably the same way then. We don’t know. It’s just at a bigger magnitude now. But you can’t judge him. That’s his father. He’s his son. He’s probably been supporting him like that on everything he’s done. So you can’t be mad at him.”

Of course, our opinions of LaVar Ball, the parent, or the probably unwarranted attention Lonzo Ball, the player, is getting, will all be moot in due time.

All that will matter is if Ball, the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NBA draft, can lead this Lakers team back into upper echelons of the NBA.

There is no question they have put the keys to the franchise car in this 19-year-olds’ pocket. Normally when a rookie goes down with an injury, it’s just a matter of looking for the next guy to fill his minutes.

In Los Angeles this pre-season, when Ball went down with an ankle injury, the response from his head coach was frustration at the lost time in training camp. “It’s just going to slow down the process,” Luke Walton said.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.